Green.Building.Solutions. (G.B.S.) Summer University 2024

Program

Learning objectives

• Understand the origin of resources and the respective use as well as the integration in buildings
• Learn about the relationships between buildings and their context
• Create an understanding for the necessity of interdisciplinary cooperation to realize green building strategies

Content

The GBS program follows a holistic and modular approach. Based on its curriculum, it comprises 7 ECTS in the form of three main topics:

• Sustainability in Building and Urban Planning
• Principles of Passive House planning
• Renewable Energies and Business Concepts

Workload and timeline

• Preparation work: The preparation assignment is handed out a month before the program starts. Each student presents the assignment at the beginning of the program. This work is equal to 40 real hours (1.5 ECTS).
• In Week 1, you learn about ongoing global challenges and the role of buildings within. You will gain in-depth knowledge on how architecture becomes more sustainable - including topics such as green and regenerative building design, alternative strategies and the passive house standard.
• Week 2: provides you with insights into material flows and circular economy in the building sector, ecological construction materials, reuse and energy concepts. In building modelling and simulation workshops with experts you learn how to calculate energy use and demand with appropriate tools. Further important contents are the economy and green finance in the sustainable building sector.
• Week 3: is dedicated to a group design project: Students get to put theory into practice while dealing with a real-life object in the City of Vienna. This allows to immediately apply the relevant knowledge in a multicultural team supervised by experts, together with 5-6 people of different disciplines. The outcomes are presented along with a PowerPoint and a poster on the last day of GBS, which is followed by the handover of the certificates during a public graduation ceremony and final celebrations.

About

GBS takes place in Vienna, the capital of energy-efficient and sustainable buildings. It provides a unique opportunity for professionals and students alike to strengthen their knowledge and gain a career advantage in the field of sustainability – an area of increasing global significance. GBS has been conceived as a summer university course with 15 international partner universities offering seven ECTS points awarded after successful completion.

The three-week programme’s lectures and all associated social activities are carried out in English and the course is of appeal to - but not limited to - those working in and studying architecture, construction management, project management, building and energy engineering and surveying.

This unique programme combines theory and practice with hands-on experience, and concludes with a collaborative project, where participants work together to bring their learning and experiences from the course to design a ‘green’ building.

The summer university forms a platform for like-minded international participants to exchange their passions for sustainable design and it also gives a chance to participants to live in a passive house. In March 2015, the OeAD-Housing Office was awarded with the Environmental Award by the City of Vienna for its outstanding and overarching project, “Sustainable living and studying” and is honoured by the Austrian UNESCO Commission.